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Occupational Employment and Wages in Yuma — May 2018

Workers in the Yuma Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.63 in May 2018, about 21 percent below the nationwide average of $24.98, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Richard Holden noted that, after testing for statistical significance, no wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 22 major occupational groups. Eighteen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; management; and computer and mathematical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 3 of the 22 occupational groups: protective service; office and administrative support. Conversely, 13 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production; computer and mathematical; and business and financial operations. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Yuma Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2018

Footnotes:​(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Yuma Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.​(2) Estimate not released​ * The mean hourly wage or percent share of employment is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

One occupational group—protective service—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Yuma had 3,250 jobs in protective service, accounting for 5.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 2.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $24.29, compared to the national wage of $23.36.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the protective service group included correctional officers and jailers (1,100), police and sheriff's patrol officers (400), and firefighters (280). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of police and detectives, and police and sheriff's patrol officers, with mean hourly wages of $38.58 and $24.48, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers ($10.77) and security guards ($13.98). (Detailed data for the protective service occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_49740.htm .)

Location quotients allow us to explore the occupational make-up of a metropolitan area by comparing the composition of jobs in an area relative to the national average. (See table 1.) For example, a location quotient of 2.0 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Yuma Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the protective service group. For instance, correctional officers and jailers were employed at 6.3 times the national rate in Yuma, and firefighters, at 2.1 times the U.S. average.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Arizona Department of Administration.

Area Changes to the May 2018 Occupational Employment Statistics (OES)

OES continues to publish data for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas that cover the full geography of the United States. However, the level of detail available has decreased.

OES no longer publishes data for metropolitan divisions. Data for the 11 large metropolitan areas that contain divisions are now available at the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) or New England City and Town Area (NECTA) level only.

In addition, some smaller nonmetropolitan areas have been combined to form larger nonmetropolitan areas. The May 2018 OES estimates contain data for 134 nonmetropolitan areas, compared with 167 nonmetropolitan areas in the May 2017 estimates.

The OES program plans to begin implementing the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system with the May 2019 estimates, to be released by early April of 2020. Because each set of OES estimates is produced by combining three years of survey data, estimates for May 2019 and May 2020 will be based on a combination of survey data collected under the 2010 SOC and data collected under the 2018 SOC, and will use a hybrid of the two classification systems. The May 2021 OES estimates, to be released by early April of 2022, will be the first set of estimates based fully on the 2018 SOC. For more information, please see www.bls.gov/oes/soc_2018.htm.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OES data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OES survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 180,000 to 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2018 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2018, November 2017, May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, and November 2015. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 71 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Yuma Metropolitan Statistical Area included 833 establishments with a response rate of 72 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

A value that is statistically different from another does not necessarily mean that the difference has economic or practical significance. Statistical significance is concerned with the ability to make confident statements about a universe based on a sample. It is entirely possible that a large difference between two values is not significantly different statistically, while a small difference is, since both the size and heterogeneity of the sample affect the relative error of the data being tested.

The May 2018 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc and information about the 2017 NAICS is available at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.

Metropolitan area definitions

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

Lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers

60

0.9

10.77

22,390

Footnotes:​(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Yuma, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_49740.htm.​(2) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers.​(3) The location quotient is the ratio of the area concentration of occupational employment to the national average concentration. A location quotient greater than one indicates the occupation has a higher share of employment than average, and a location quotient less than one indicates the occupation is less prevalent in the area than average.​(4) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a "year-round, full-time" hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data.